Chapter 1: "Wow"
Beca paced back and forth in her room running her hand through her hair. She paused every few seconds to look in the mirror and frown. Then she would look in her closet and sigh heavily. What the hell was I thinking? She put both hands on her head and stared at the ground walking in circles.
She barely noticed but heard a small knock on her door in the Bella house. It couldn't have been Fat Amy since she would just barge in like she owned the place. She figured it was Aubrey coming to get her for some ridiculous Bella bonding activity.
"Yeah?" She mumbled as she kept pacing.
"Hey…" Chloe's voice was barely above a whisper as she peeked in the door.
"Oh hey, come in."
"You okay? I could hear you pacing….more than usual." Chloe stifled a grin observing her good friend clearly in some sort of turmoil. Having a room directly below Beca's she heard lots of stomping and noises, especially depending on Beca's mood.
"Oh yeah, great, great." Beca smiled her signature fake smile and dropped her hands to her side. "Just freaking out because I decided to agree to a date. Oh my God, why? I am not dating material!" She held her head as she flopped backwards on her bed. Chloe did her best to stifle her smile that was rapidly spreading across her face.
"Quit grinning like an idiot Chlo." Beca mumbled without looking up. Chloe shook it off and sat next to Beca on the bed, placing a hand on her thigh.
"Becs, you are totally dating material. Whoever the lucky guy to get you to actually say yes to go out has no idea the jackpot he just won." Beca sat up and eyed Chloe with obvious skepticism.
"You're just saying that to get me out of the house."
"I'm not!" Chloe shot back, seeming sincere in her former words. "Beca, you are amazing. When are you going to stop doubting yourself and realize you have a lot to offer?"
"Thanks Chlo...I just...I'm...its just.."
"Beca, ohmygod, spit it out. You can talk to me." Chloe smiled again, playfully shoving Becas shoulder.
"I don't know how to date….good."
"Please." Chloe rolled her eyes and stood to her feet. "Get up."
"What?" Beca leaned forward, cocking an eyebrow at the redhead standing in front of her.
"I can so easily teach you!" Chloe nearly squealed beaming from ear to ear. "I'm practically a professional in this department." She then nodded seriously.
"Oh good God, what are you planning to do?"
"Stand up and find out." Chloe cocked her eyebrow. Beca begrudgingly stood up from the bed and slouched with a disbelieving glare at Chloe. The redhead took Beca's hands in hers and drug her out of the room. She shoved her down the stairs and into her room before closing the door. Beca looked impatiently as to why they were in Chloe's room suddenly. She watched in horror as Chloe tossed her makeup bag on her desk and furiously rummaged through her closet.
"Ohhhh nooo…" Beca saw what was happening and feverishly shook her hand at her good friend. "No, no, no, no, no…." She shook her head and spun around to the door. She got the door opened about an inch before the redhead was right beside her slamming the door back shut with her palm.
"Beca Mitchell." She closed her eyes, feigning frustration. "For once in your life just listen to me and do what I tell you to do. It'll be for your own good."
"For once?" Beca stepped back, half laughing. "Chloe do you not remember that time in the shower, I'm pretty sure I've done what you've demanded on multiple occasions."
"And have I ever let you down?" Chloe smiled proudly and tilted her head. She spun around back to the closet knowing Beca wasn't going anywhere. Beca stared at the door for a moment before rolling her eyes to turn around to Chloe.
"And you can roll your eyes back into the forward position." Chloe snapped her fingers with her back still turned to Beca. Beca couldn't help but snicker under her breath, it was crazy how well Chloe knew her.
"Ohhh kay." Chloe held up outfit after outfit and studied them like it was a complex math problem. "I think these will fit you, and look super cute! So try them on." She gently laid down several outfits on her bed. One was a revealing red tank top with a black skirt. The second was a straight grey dress with black flowers on it. The third was a silky purple top with short sleeves as well as a plunging neckline with black skinny jeans.
"These are my options?" Beca glanced from the clothes to Chloe in disbelief. Chloe nodded rapidly, beaming.
"Oh, hell no." Beca spun around again. Before she could take a step, Chloe grabbed her shoulders and held her firmly in place.
"Listen you stubborn little hermit." She leaned in inches from Beca's face as she was known to do a time or two. Beca's eyes darted back forth between Chloe's, and for a very brief second glanced down at her lips. "You are beautiful. You are funny and amazing. You are my best friend and you deserve to find someone you thinks you are as aca-awesome as I do." Chloe leaned her forehead against Beca's and smiled, waiting for Beca to cave.
"Fine just to shut you up." Beca rolled her eyes and stepped away from Chloe to look at the outfits. Best friend? She thought. I stole that spot from Aubrey?
"I guess…." Beca sighed heavily with her hands on her hips looking amongst the outfits. "I guess the purple…But you know I won't fit in your jeans."
"Really?" Chloe tilted her head in confusion eyeing Beca's waist.
"Ever notice a height difference?" Beca pursed her lips raising her flattened hand from the top on her own head to the top of Chloe's head and made the motion back and forth a few times.
"Oh totes!" Chloe waved her hand, laughing off her mistake. She looked down at Beca's current skinny jeans. "You know, those will probably be just fine for a first date. But here, put this top on and let me see." Chloe shoved the purple top in Beca's hands. Beca turned to walk across the hall to the background when Chloe stopped her. "Um where are you going?"
"Um the bathroom, dude."
"Oh please just change in here." Chloe rolled her eyes.
"No thanks." Beca gritted her teeth.
"Beca, I've seen you naked, there's nothing left to know." Chloe giggled.
"Dude!"
"Oh I got it memorized." Chloe smirked cockily pointing her finger up and down Beca's body.
"Oh my God!"
"Just change, I won't ogle you." Chloe rolled her eyes and turned slightly to her left so she
wasn't staring right at Beca. As Beca slipped her plain white T-shirt off Chloe looked back. Her eyes glanced over Beca's abs that she so stubbornly chose to hide from the world so often. Her bra was a fairly stylish purple; not necessarily something Chloe would pick for herself but Props to Beca she thought. Before she knew it Beca had slipped on Chloe's purple top.
"Wow." Chloe grinned as she looked Beca up and down. "This guy better watch out, he might have some competition. The way you look makes me think I might want to date you." She giggled as she helped adjust the purple top to perfection on Chloe's body. Beca felt her heart skip for a moment at the comment. She even shivered slightly at Chloe's touch. She shook her head to herself and said, "Yeah, whatever, thanks for the clothes." She turned to leave the room.
"Beca friggin Mitchell." Chloe crossed her arms and looked exasperated toward the ceiling.
"What?" Beca's eyes darted around, confused about the scolding tone.
"We are not even halfway done." Chloe grabbed her hand and led Beca to sit in the chair at her desk.
"Um….what?" Beca started getting a little nervous, not to mention nauseous.
"Hair and make up, duh!" Chloe nearly squealed in delight as she clapped her hands.
"Oh hell no!" Beca pushed herself up before being immediately shoved back down with Chloe's hands on her shoulders.
"Beca…" Chloe leaned down, her voice barely above a whisper looking into Beca's panicky eyes. "When will you ever learn to stop trying to say no to me." She smirked and winked at her smaller friend as she began organizing different products on the desk. Beca felt that similar skip in her chest as she glanced down to Chloe's legs and then her eyes shot right back up as Chloe turned back around. Beca gulped and adjusted herself in the chair.
"Please just don't make me look like a clown." Her voice was almost pleading which was quite endearing to Chloe.
"Becs, I just want to help you. Not treat you like my own personal doll. I'm not going to go crazy." Chloe pulled up a chair from across the room that belonged at Aubrey's desk. She scooted inches away from Beca and pulled out her first make up utensil. As she leaned in towards Beca's face she whispered, "Close your eyes." Beca obeyed and felt shivers go down her body. As Chloe leaned in closer the door opened suddenly and in burst Aubrey. Beca jumped back and nearly fell out of her chair while Chloe stayed in position and turned her head to look at Aubrey as if she might have ruined the whole process.
"Aca-scuse me?" Aubrey stood in shock at her fellow bellas engaged in what looked like a hell of an attempt at a makeover. "What is happening?"
"I'm helping Beca get ready for a date." Chloe grinned and pulled Beca back closer to her.
"A makeover?!" Aubrey couldn't hide her delight as she bounced in the doorway.
"Nope. I'm not some circus freak." Beca shook her head and slammed her hands on her thighs.
Before she could stand up Chloe put her hands over the brunettes to keep her sitting in the chair.
"Aubrey…" Chloe started. "You know how Beca is, just let me finish and I'll make the big reveal to you and the rest of the Bellas okay."
"This is so exciting, I can't wait!" Aubrey clasped her hands together as she left Beca and Chloe and shut the door behind her. Chloe smiled at Beca and whispered again, "Okay, where were we?" Beca glared at her for a moment before closing her eyes. As she did the both heard muffled squeals coming from the living room of the Bella house.
"Don't make me regret this, Beale." Beca mumbled with eyes closed.
"I would never." Chloe smiled as she got to work.
After half an hour of borderline torture for Beca, Chloe took a step back and admired her work.
"Beca, I have outdone myself." She pretended like she was on the verge of tears.
"Oh can it, Chlo." Beca huffed.
"You look…" Chloe stepped closer and ran a hand down the slightly curled brown hair she had just finished. Her hand lingered for a moment at Beca's shoulder. Beca gulped and stared at Chloe's eyes that were looking at her bare shoulder. In a second, Chloe inhaled sharply and clapped her hands together.
"Okay!" She smiled. "Time for the big reveal."
"Oh God…" Beca closed her eyes.
"Bellaaaaassss!" Chloe called from outside her room.
"Bring her out here!" Fat Amy called from the couch.
"Let's see the little beauty, already!" Stacie chuckled with a drink in her hand. Cynthia Rose, Jessica, and Ashley all made cat call sounds and cheers as they waited. Chloe stood behind Beca as she gently pushed her into the living room.
"Oh my Gawd, short stack!" Fat Amy exclaimed. "You could turn me!"
"Not bad for an alt-girl!" Aubrey eyed her up and down in approval.
"You're gunna get laaaiiiiidddd!" Stacie held up her glass in cheers to Beca. Beca just rolled her eyes but was completely unable to hide a grin escaping her lips.
"Okay." Chloe spun Beca around to face her. "You look aca-amazing and everyone thinks so. Now…" Chloe leaned in and gave her a quick kiss on the cheek. "Got get 'em stud!" She whirled Beca around toward the door and gave her a playful slap on the butt. Beca could feel her cheeks turn crimson so she basically sprinted out of the Bella house while everyone cheered her on with their dirty comments.
Hours later, everyone was asleep in the Bella house, but there was a small light on in the living room next to Chloe who had her laptop out working on a class assignment. She couldn't help but glancing at the clock every few minutes, growing more and more worried the later the night went on, resisting the urge to text her favorite little brunette for updates. As the clock hit 1:02am she heard a key in the door and she felt her heart race ever so slightly as she looked toward the door. Beca slipped in the door and quietly took her key out of the door and shut it as silently as she could. She started to tip toe towards the stairs when the ginger startled her out of her skin.
"Well, well, well!" Chloe snapped her laptop shut and set it on the coffee table.
"Holy shit, Chloe!" Beca whispered as she held her hand to her chest.
"So how'd it go?" Chloe scooted over motioning for Beca to take her seat next to her.
"You waited up for me?" Beca grinned bashfully.
"Of course I did." Chloe giggled. "Why are you always surprised? Now get over here." Beca acted like she was put out as she stomped over to the couch and plopped down next to her favorite redhead.
"It was pretty good." Beca's signature smirk turned into a full blown smile.
"Details, please." Chloe put her elbow on the back of the couch and leaned her head into her hand as she stared expectantly into Beca's eyes.
"Well…" Beca started hesitantly. "We met up at the radio station and he took me to some really cool bar that had live music. Amazing singers. We played pool and he even made the cliche move to get behind me and 'show' me how to shoot pool even though I was already better than him. Oh my God! The burger was amazing which was really surprising and he even ordered extra pickles because I made a comment I wish they had put more on. We stayed there for a while and then he whispered in my ear if I wanted to take a walk. He casually slipped his hand in mine as soon as we were outside and he just looked down at me and smiled like I was the only person in the world. We were walking by the lake and he stopped and put his hand on my waist. He looked at me and said 'I like to live life with as few regrets as possible. I would definitely regret not kissing you tonight.' Cheesy I know but I just grinned like a shmuck. He leaned down and kissed me and the stars were literally reflecting on the lake and it was awesome."
"Tongue?" Chloe grinned mischievously.
"Dude, TMI much?" Beca grinned.
"Well?" Chloe raised her eyebrows.
"No." Beca looked down and averted her gaze. Her eyes were darting from one object to another all over the living room, which Chloe knew meant the little brunette's brain was spinning nearly out of control.
"What is it, Becs?" Chloe slowly slipped her hands over Beca's knowing this was a way to typically calm Beca's nerves.
"Dude, its embarrassing." Beca placed her hand on her forehead and closed her eyes.
"What is? Come on, you can tell me." Chloe took Beca's hand back down from her head and gently stroked it encouraging the brunette to open up. Beca took a deep breath and slowly exhaled.
"I've never french kissed." She closed her eyes like she was in pain from embarrassment. Chloe looked at her friend, not in pity, but pure concern. She thought it was actually sweet how inexperienced the freshman was. I could show her a thing or two… She shook the weird thoughts away and then looked back at Beca who still had her eyes closed. Chloe scooted closer and whispered, "hey…"
"I'm such a freak." Beca shook her head and started frantically fiddling with the ring on her thumb. "I'm in college and all I've ever done is kiss! Not even good kissing! Oh my god, I'm a freak."
"No you're not!" Chloe grabbed her hands yet again and scooted as close to Beca as possible.
"You are not a freak." She whispered and pushed Beca's hair behind her ear. To this, Beca looked straight ahead into Chloe's eyes. "What if I helped you?" Chloe grinned slightly.
"Huh?" Beca cocked an eyebrow.
"Just listen, I know you're all weird about your personal bubble and stuff," Chloe waved her hand in the air. "But if you just took a deep breath and relaxed, I could probably help you. As I have already done." Chloe pointed at Beca from head to toe with pride.
"How could you help?" Beca asked skeptically.
"Hold on." Chloe leaned in, centimeters away from Beca's face before jumping off the couch. Beca realized she had been holding her breath and she let out a heavy sigh, wondering where the bubbly ginger went. In a minute Chloe was back with two shot glasses and a small bottle of her favorite green apple vodka. Beca silently watched as Chloe poured each of them a shot.
"Now…" Chloe handed Beca one of the glasses. "I'm going to kiss you." She stated as if she was telling Beca the sky was blue while Beca nearly spilt her shot all over the couch.
"The fuck?" She half laughed at the crazy redhead she could never quite predict.
"I'm going to kiss you." Chloe shrugged. "We're going to take a shot and then kiss. It'll last five seconds. If you aren't ready for tongue we take another shot and try again. We continue this process until we either pass out or get you over your hump of never frenching." She explained so matter of factly for a moment Beca thought it was the most logical thing to do. Then she came to her senses.
"Hell no." She set the shot glass on the coffee table.
"Beca." Chloe rolled her eyes. "Don't be such a traditionalistic prude. I'm only going to help you, and no one's even going to know. It'll just be one more of our little secrets." She winked. Beca swallowed hard and before she knew it she downed the green shot and poured a second. Chloe cocked an eyebrow at the little brunette.
"Okay you got a head start, good." Chloe held out her shot glass for a cheers. They clinked glasses, tapped them on the coffee table and downed their vodka shots together. Chloe grinned like a parent watching their child learn to walk. Beca let out a frustrated sigh and closed her eyes. Chloe leaned in, pausing briefly before reaching Beca's lips. She opened her eyes and saw Beca's were still closed. She closed the gap and felt Beca tense as their lips meant. Chloe counted in her head to five and Beca didn't move. She sat back and then poured two more shots. Beca sat frozen on the couch. Well that was akward.
"Here." Chloe grinned. Beca silently took the glass and downed it in one smooth motion. To this, Chloe's grin widened as she took her own shot. "Ready?" She slowly set the glass on the table. Beca nodded. Chloe moved in close again, slightly quicker this time. She kissed Beca with a little more force this time hoping to push her to open up. She again counted to five and Beca was basically motionless. She leaned back and sighed, only slightly frustrated, as she poured two more shots.
"Beca if I didn't know better I'd say you're just trying to get me drunk and kiss me over and over." Chloe handed her the shot glass.
"Oh don't flatter yourself." Beca squinted her eyes.
"I mean I wouldn't blame you, I have seen myself in a mirror." Chloe flirtatiously flipped her hair over her shoulder.
"Oh please!" Beca scoffed.
"Well, kiss me for reals and we can stop."
"What if I'm bad at it?" Beca ran a nervous hand through her hair.
"This is the perfect time to find out!" Chloe slammed her palms on her own thighs. "I'll be honest and can give you tips. Look, I don't want to make you feel weird or uncomfortable, I'm just honestly trying to help you like a friend helped me back in high school." Beca immediately shot a curious eyebrow skyward. Chloe laughed and rolled her eyes. "We were at a party and I was wanting to get with this guy and a good friend of mine was giving me advice and she showed me how to kiss basically." She shrugged nonchalantly.
"Okay." Beca shook her head and exhaled heavily. "One more shot." They took another shot together as Beca again closed her eyes and Chloe leaned in to kiss her again. This time Chloe gently placed her hand on the back of Beca's neck. With their lips together, Chloe mumbled, "open your damn mouth." Beca almost involuntarily complied. Chloe smirked as she finally deepened the kiss. Beca cautiously moved her tongue into Chloe's mouth and found her hand resting on Chloe's hips. Without detaching, Chloe adjusted herself to get a little more comfortable and brought both hands to Beca's face. Beca leaned in and kissed Chloe hard, mouth open slightly. She heard an audible moan from Chloe as she pushed Beca farther. Beca heard a slight whimper come from her own throat and then broke from Chloe immediately. Chloe's face was flushed and she ran a hand through her hair as she leaned back on the couch. When she looked back up at Beca the brunette was staring at her questioningly.
"Well?" Beca raised her hands, eager to have her performance graded.
"Well…." Chloe looked down, unable to suppress her grin any longer. "I can tell you confidently you have nothing to fear if you were to french a dude."
"I was good?" Beca asked almost bursting into a joyous giggle.
"You were good." Chloe nodded and took a deep breath. "You're a natural. I'm proud of you little hermit." She playfully punched Beca on the shoulder. "Now, it's super late and Aubrey's going to kill us if we are too sleepy for Bella's rehearsals tomorrow." She grabbed the shot glasses and vodka and carried them to the sink. Beca took a deep breath trying to slow her heart rate. She stood up from the couch and put her hand on the railing of the stairs. She watched as Beca started to walk down the hall to her room.
"Hey Chlo." She whispered. Chloe spun around and looked expectantly. "Thanks….for everything."
"Anytime, Becs." Chloe smiled genuinely as she quietly slipped into her room to not wake Aubrey. Each girl changed into their PJs and laid down in their separate beds. Simultaneously they both leaned their heads against their own pillows, looked at the ceiling and whispered, "Wow."